State Cult and Popular Religiosity
According to Confucianism, the worship of great deities was the affair of the state, ancestral worship is required of all, and a multitude of popular cults are tolerable. Confucianism tolerated magic and mysticism as long as they were useful tools for controlling the masses; it denounced them as heresy and suppressed them when they threatened the established order (hence the opposition to Buddhism). Another notable quality was the avoidance or both irrational ecstasy and excitement, as well as mystic contemplation and metaphysical speculation.
Note that in this context Confucianism can be referred to as the state cult, and Taoism as the popular religion.
Read more about this topic: The Religion Of China: Confucianism And Taoism
Famous quotes containing the words state, cult, popular and/or religiosity:
“George Shears ... was hanged in a barn near the store. The rope was thrown over a beam, and he was asked to walk up a ladder to save the trouble of preparing a drop for him. “Gentlemen,” he said, “I am not used to this business. Shall I jump off or slide off?” He was told to jump.”
—For the State of Montana, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“A cult is a religion with no political power.”
—Tom Wolfe (b. 1931)
“The popular definition of tragedy is heavy drama in which everyone is killed in the last act, comedy being light drama in which everyone is married in the last act.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“Nothing is more indispensable to true religiosity than a mediator that links us with divinity.”
—Novalis [Friedrich Von Hardenberg] (1772–1801)